a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wiper blade for an automotive outside mirror wiper, which is reciprocally moved over the reflecting surface of the outside mirror to wipe away raindrops or the like on the mirror surface.
Also the present invention relates to an automotive mirror wiper using the above-mentioned wiper blade.
b) Prior Art Statement
Generally, an automotive outside mirror comprises a mirror unit consisting of a mirror body and mirror holder and a mirror housing in which the mirror unit is installed. The mirror housing is fixed to outside a car body by means of a separate mirror base or a stay or the like formed integrally with the mirror housing. The automotive outside mirror reflects a scene behind the car on the reflecting surface of the mirror body (will be referred to simply as "mirror surface" hereinafter) and gives the rearview to the car driver.
Some of the recent automotive outside mirrors are equipped with a wiper to wipe away raindrops, other waterdrops or dust (will be referred to simply as "raindrops" hereinafter) staying on the mirror surface and which will prevent the mirror from positively giving the rearview to the card driver.
The wiper of this type generally consists of a wiper drive unit provided in the mirror housing, wiper arm installed to the drive unit and a wiper blade fitted to the wiper arm. When the drive unit is operated, the wiper blade is reciprocally moved over the mirror surface by means of the wiper arm to wipe away the raindrops from there.
A typical one of such wiper blades for automotive outside mirror wipers is known from the disclosure in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,369,542. This wiper blade will be described below with reference to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a bottom view of a conventional wiper blade, in which the mirror surface is regarded as the front side.
In FIG. 1, the wiper blade is generically indicated with the reference numeral 900. The wiper blade 900 comprises a rubber ribbon 901 which wipes away raindrops on the mirror surface, a pair of backing channels 902 and 903 which retain the rubber ribbon 901, and a pair of stays 906 and 907 pivotably holding the pair of backing channels 902 and 903, respectively, by means of shafts 904 and 905, respectively and which are so coupled to each other by means of a shaft 908 as to be pivotable in relation to each other.
As shown, the wiper 900 has an arm 909 of which the one end is connected to a drive unit (not shown) provided inside a mirror housing of an automotive outside mirror (not shown). One (907) of the stays in pair is pivotably connected to the other end of the wiper arm 909 by means of a shaft 910.
When the drive unit for the wiper is operated, the wiper blade 900 is reciprocally moved over the mirror surface by means of the wiper arm 909 to wipe away raindrops from there by the rubber ribbon 901 thereof.
In the conventional wiper blade 900 shown in FIG. 1, the rubber ribbon 901 is itself high (dimension in the vertical direction of FIG. 1). It is fitted in the stays 906 and 907 in pair, which define together a mountain-like shape, by means of the pair of backing channels 902 and 903, respectively. So the total height H of the wiper blade 900 is large. Also the rubber ribbon 901 of this wiper blade 900 is itself thick at the top portion thereof (dimension from this side to the back of the paper sheet carrying FIG. 1) and it is retained as caught from both sides by the stays 906 and 907 in pair on the backing channels 902 and 903, respectively. So the total thickness of the wiper blade 900 is large. Namely, the conventional wiper blade 900 shown in FIG. 1 is large as a whole.